Bourgeois Democracy

No phrase was heard more often or pronounced more reverently at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte than “middle class.” This represents a notable change from days of yore.

In the sixties and seventies, and to a lesser extent in the eighties, the middle class was not a special object of left-of-center worship—certainly not among self-romanticizing soi-disant “radicals” and scarcely more among relatively moderate liberals like me. “The bourgeoisie” was not something one yearned to join. “Middle class” didn’t mean work hard and play by the rules, as it does now. It meant work way too hard and don’t question the rules. It meant settle for an ecstasy-free life in a corporate cubicle and a ticky-tacky suburb, subscribe to Reader’s Digest, and get a haircut.

Over the decades, the category of people Democrats were most tenderly solicitous of evolved, terminologically speaking, from “the common man” and “the working class” to “ordinary working people” and “working families” before settling, as of now, on “the middle class.” The people are mostly but not exactly the same people. The name has been changed because that’s where the votes are—almost everybody self-identifies as middle class today, from waitresses and grease monkeys to six-figure managers and Broadway stars. But it’s also because the middle class, though larger than ever in its own mind, no longer sees itself in the driver’s seat. It feels and is put upon—not culturally, as in “silent majority” days, but in terms of economic security and political power. After a third of a century of longer hours, increasingly enfeebled unions, reduced or eliminated fringe benefits, and income stagnation for all but the rich and especially the very rich, the middle class is the new proletariat.

Bourgeois and bourgeoises of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your 401(k)s!

_Photograph by Maximilian Bode. See our full coverage of the campaign season at The Political Scene.

Hendrik Hertzberg is a senior editor and staff writer at The New Yorker. He regularly blogs about politics.